Breeding of osmium bees. Osmia rufa, cornuta, hives

Community and Forum → Insects biology and faunistics → Breeding of osmium bees. Osmia rufa, cornuta, hives

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25.12.2017 3:26, ИНО

It is clear that all the stone bumblebees migrated from Nikolaev to Donetsk, and the swallowtails - in the opposite direction, but not all of them.

And the observer from Pan Stepovoi is not very good. The stone bumblebee also settles in the ground, and under stones, and on the surface in mouse (or vole?) beds. nests of dry grass without any rocks. It seems that it also settles in the walls of houses, judging by the fact that those who are looking for wombs regularly fly to my loggia in the spring. Although here I am 100% sure, I didn't find any stone bumblebee nests there, but I did find an earthen one. So it is unlikely that somewhere in the world, in a temperate climate, there is a region where the "krasnozhopik" could not live due to the lack of nesting shelters. So it's something else.

Likes: 1

18.04.2018 0:52, ИНО

Oh, I also shot this today, in a photo, and with a much larger number of participants. But I will be careful not to spread it out - as Pan Stepova says, I have sanctions... Interestingly, it turns out that conrnuta males have two alternative copulation strategies: on flowers, without being distracted from feeding for a long time, and at the entrances to their parent nests. What is not clear is how they avoid inbreeding in the latter case.

Meanwhile, previously fertilized cornutus females are already looking for nesting sites. My biggest beehive, made using Carcharoth's pantyhose technology, unfortunately fell apart in the winter. But my original cardboard-tube technology turned out to be more durable. I made four new beehives on it using reeds from the collapsed one. One of them for the first time hung not on the balcony but on the loggia, on the opposite side, to the south. sides of the house. So there is already one female bicornis managed to nest.

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24.10.2019 8:02, stendapuss

In the photo, the shape and size of the holes are not visible. The osmium inquilins and parasitoids that I know of come out of their host's nests after wintering, so it's not them. What have you read about spiders that are so interesting? They can only catch an adult bee outside the nest.

Birds are agile creatures, they can easily hammer upside down. On my balcony, big tits often hollow out the nests of osmias. But the holes from their beaks will remain large, for the entire summer.

The holes are drilled for 8 and 10 mm. Not counting the biggest ones. Well, if the birds. I'll make a grid around the end. The worst part is that I can't see what's in there. The holes are not fully drilled. It remains only in the spring to see if the bees will fly. Yes, and then how to keep track. It is necessary to take a large photo, it may be visible from the beak scratches (if birds). From birds it is easy to close the end, but from other parasites it is more difficult. I haven't found a solution yet.
I'll see if I can break down one of the houses and see what's in the holes.

This post was edited by stendapuss - 24.10.2019 08: 09